Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is a core element in Native American traditions.

One of the most simple Medicine Wheels is based on the Four Directions: East, West, South and North. These are connected to the Four Elements: Fire, Earth, Water and Air; the building blocks of Life and expressions of universal energies.
They can also represent many other things according to the specific tradition.

The Medicine Wheel of the Delicate Lodge has eight Directions and eight corresponding colours and energies or qualities. It is a map of the Universe and at the same time a map of the human.
The qualities and building blocks of life are the same in the the small human scale as on the scale of the Universe. A picture of oneness, how the Universe is inside you and me and we are in the Universe as well. We are one.

It is a sacred and ceremonial space to be honored and cared for.

Here are some different examples of Medicine Wheels.
Often they are built on the land of a circle of stones and with a fire pit in the center. They can take many other shapes however, in the form of an altar, of a work of art or a round calendar.

Also see the post Opening the wheel.